The conifer for the Portland Timbers and orange wedges for all: Soccer in these United States

Friday, January 6, 2017

The Late Tackle 01 06 2017: Mock Drafts and The Bruce Subtweets

Does not answer the question...

Tuned into the first episode ExtraTime Radio of 2017 today. If you want an hour two guys positively shitting player
names on you, that’s your spot.

Then again, what else is going on
in Major League Soccer right now, but players scurrying to and fro. There’s a
bunch of new kids coming in as well, early as next Wednesday. Seems like a good
place to start…and so goddamn ready for this stuff to end, and for people to
start kicking balls in anger…

…the ball in anger. The right
ball. The one on the field. Felt like I should clarify that.

Mock Drafts, with a Little Scouting (Turtles? Srsly, what is a mock turtle?)

In all honesty, the most I get
out of mock drafts are passing introductions to a bunch of players I’ve never
heard of. As such, I’m sharing The Armchair Analyst’s mock draft because you
can’t get to know someone (or a player) till you meet him. And he lists a bunch
of names, gives brief bios, and talks upside/downside; it’s not first-hand observation
– always my preference (and even there, I’ll stick on “this player seems” as
opposed to “this player is” till I see a fair amount of any given player – but it
beats nothing. This year will be empirically-heavy.

Of note: See the guy at #5,
Jacori Hayes, who Matt “The Armchair Analyst” Doyle compares to one Darlington
Nagbe in a way that should gently trigger a specific sub-set of Portland
Timbers fans (or just me). Also, Doyle went a different player to Portland, a
defender named Lalas Abubakar. Also of note: he doesn’t give the kid a ringing
endorsement, which reads kind of funny so long as I keep hearing about how deep
this year’s SuperDraft is with defenders.

New Old Players, and Familiar
Faces

If Rodney Wallace returns to
Portland (any word? ANYONE?), I’m guessing that will feel to Portland fans a
little like Minnesota United FC fans felt on hearing word that former players Miguel
Ibarra and Christian Ramirez will re-up with the MLS incarnation of that
franchise. It’s easier to feel good about moves like this…

Just one steps removed comes
Earnie Stewart’s confidence about bringing Giliano Wijnadlum to the
Philadelphia Union. Because he’s seen them play, Stewart should have a pretty
good idea what he’s getting and that should (right?) make Union fans feel a
little optimistic

Exceptions to…

Can’t imagine Chicago Fire fans
are cheering so hard about the return of Luis Solignac, a player who, for all
the ass he busts, has an unusual knack for missing his shots. And, to clarify,
Solignac lists as a forward. Who knows, maybe he’ll end the season by shoving
the four players off this list of potential breakout stars…or maybe the Fire
needed cheap back-up after bringing in Nemanja Nikolic. Has anyone tried
Solignac exclusively as a winger? Think the Colorado Rapids did…maybe…

Shots Fired

Outlets have put out dozens of
articles about players called in for the current January camp, but I’ve found
only one so far that contains a quote from Bruce Arena that sure reads like a tidy
little dig at his predecessor:

"We can score goals.
Defensively, we can be strong. Our goalkeeping is solid. Our back line can play
a lot better than they have."

I dunno. You be the judge. And
that’s it for today. Till next week…

…also,
I feel like I should take the template I applied to A Project of Self-Indulgence and move it over here. But where would I put the Conifers, and
where the Citrus? Hmm…